Definition of ambigous

1. ambiguous [ a ] open to two or more interpretations; or of uncertain nature or significance; or (often) intended to misleadExamples:"an equivocal statement""an equivocal (or ambiguous) message""the officer's equivocal behavior increased the victim's uneasiness"

Used in print:

(William S. Haymond, "Is Distance an Original...)

Obviously , a satisfactory answer to the third question is imperative , if the argument is to get under_way at_all , for if there is any possibility of doubt whether the patient 's tactual sensitivity had been impaired by the occipital lesion , any findings whatsoever in regard_to the first question become completely ambiguous and fail altogether , of_course , as evidence to establish the desired conclusion .

(Evan Esar, Humorous English; a guide to comic ,...)

Nothing in English has been ridiculed as_much_as the ambiguous use of words , unless it be the ambiguous use of sentences .

Nothing in English has been ridiculed as_much_as the ambiguous use of words , unless it be the ambiguous use of sentences .

Such ambiguous exercises compound confusion by making it worse compounded , and they are sometimes expanded until the cream of the jest sours .

This slip is so-called because its semi ambiguous English always seems to refer to a person 's anatomy but never quite means what it seems to say .

2. ambiguous [ a ] having more than one possible meaningExamples:"ambiguous words""frustrated by ambiguous instructions, the parents were unable to assemble the toy"

Used in print:

(The Atlanta Constitution...)

The jury said it did find that many_of Georgia 's registration and election laws `` are outmoded or inadequate and often ambiguous '' .

(Clement Greenberg, "Collage" in his Art and...)

Thus every part and plane of the picture keeps changing place in relative depth with every_other part and plane ; and it is as if the only stable relation left among the different parts of the picture is the ambivalent and ambiguous one that each has with the surface .

Flatness may now monopolize everything , but it is a flatness become so ambiguous and expanded as to turn_into illusion itself - at_least an optical if_not , properly_speaking , a pictorial illusion .